| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Are Social Sciences, Sociology, Ethics, etc. good areas to work in? Thread poster: Maria Julia Comparin
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I am a beginner translator and I would like to know if the areas of social sciences, sociology, ethics, anthropology, etc. have a wide job market to work in or if it is difficult to get jobs in these areas. By the way, I am an EN-PT translator.
| | | | | @Maria Julia | Jul 11, 2023 |
The good areas to work in translation are the subject matters you are specialized in and/or the fields you love the most…
| | | | jyuan_us 
United States
Local time: 14:42
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Social sciences | Jul 11, 2023 |
On the one hand, “Social sciences" are too broad, because any subject that is not scientific in nature can be thought of as related to a social science per se; On the other hand, most translators would claim they can translate in social sciences. The implication is that translators of subjects in social sciences would find it hard to get a rate that is worthy of the time spent.
There would never be a niche market for the specializations of social sciences, if they are specializati... See more On the one hand, “Social sciences" are too broad, because any subject that is not scientific in nature can be thought of as related to a social science per se; On the other hand, most translators would claim they can translate in social sciences. The implication is that translators of subjects in social sciences would find it hard to get a rate that is worthy of the time spent.
There would never be a niche market for the specializations of social sciences, if they are specializations at all in the first place. ▲ Collapse
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Maria Julia Comparin wrote:
I am a beginner translator and I would like to know if the areas of social sciences, sociology, ethics, anthropology, etc. have a wide job market to work in or if it is difficult to get jobs in these areas. By the way, I am an EN-PT translator.
I can't comment on the volume of work in your market, but these are areas that I suspect most agencies would classify as "general translation", so it may be difficult to get ahead of their favourite generalists.
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 20:42
Spanish to English
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In my experience, most of the work in these fields involves translating into English from other languages, rather than vice versa.
Most professional and academic journals publish works in English by authors from several different countries, and many of my clients either send me their articles for translation, or write them themselves in English (nowadays obviously using some kind of automatic translation software) and then send them to me for correction/polishing.
For example... See more In my experience, most of the work in these fields involves translating into English from other languages, rather than vice versa.
Most professional and academic journals publish works in English by authors from several different countries, and many of my clients either send me their articles for translation, or write them themselves in English (nowadays obviously using some kind of automatic translation software) and then send them to me for correction/polishing.
For example, part of my work is as an editor for a livestock journal, and I usually have to correct and improve texts written in English by authors from China, Arabic speaking countries, Brazil, Portugal and Spanish-speaking countries, and occasionally other European countries, mainly Eastern European. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 20:42
French to English
If you have previous knowledge of such subjects, or if you are interested and prepared to put in the hours researching the topics, and if you have a knack for writing in an appropriately academic style, yes, they are very good areas to work in.
| | | | | Of course this is a specialization | Jul 13, 2023 |
jyuan_us wrote:
There would never be a niche market for the specializations of social sciences, if they are specializations at all in the first place.
There are, in fact, several specialized translation agencies that cater solely to the social sciences. The OP listed sociology, ethics, and anthropology as examples of social sciences. Saying that the average translator could pick up an academic article on anthropology and translate it well is, in my opinion, the same as saying that they could also pick up a manual on a solar power system and translate it well. Is it possible? Sure, maybe, with a lot of research into terminology and parallel texts. Or you could just get a translator who is specialized in one or more subdisciplines of social sciences and have your article translated much faster, possibly for far less money (depending on whether the rates are per word or per hour), and with a good chance of it being qualitatively better in terms of accurate terminology and text conventions for the field.
OP, I have no idea about your language pair, so I can't tell you whether it's feasible to make a living specializing in the social sciences. It is possible in other language pairs, especially into English because the biggest international journals are published in English. There's also a lot of editing work available in English for the social sciences because authors will often get comments in the peer review that tell them they need to have the article proofread by a native speaker.
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:42
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Academic papers are a specialization in and of themselves | Jul 13, 2023 |
Rita Translator wrote:
Is it possible? Sure, maybe, with a lot of research into terminology and parallel texts.
Agree with Rita. I have a client who occasionally sends me research papers to translate for publication in academic or industry journals. I have to do a lot of research, not so much for the technical terminology, but to ensure that I'm using the right kind of academic language.
They take me much longer than financial texts, and I get queries back on various obscure turns of phrase and so on. It's interesting, but it's hard work and inefficient! If I specialized in this area it would be a lot easier.
Regards,
Dan
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jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 14:42
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Sociology, ethics, anthropology, maybe also linguistics | Jul 13, 2023 |
Maria Julia Comparin wrote:
I am a beginner translator and I would like to know if the areas of social sciences, sociology, ethics, anthropology, etc. have a wide job market to work in or if it is difficult to get jobs in these areas. By the way, I am an EN-PT translator.
I wonder what kinds of documents are to be translated in these areas. Books? College textbooks? Academic papers? The authors would probably prefer to having a peer academician in the target language country translate their works. Also, translating books may involve a publishing house, and as I'm aware of, book translators have low incomes, unless the books they have translated become bestsellers in the target market, the chance of which is extremely low.
[Edited at 2023-07-13 14:21 GMT]
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 14:42
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Sociology, ethics, anthropology, linguistics, or maybe translatology | Jul 13, 2023 |
I'm still wondering what kinds of clients would buy translations in sociology, anthropology, linguistics, or maybe translatology. It would be possible that an institution has been awarded grants to get some English books in these areas translated into your target language, but these kinds of needs will neither be huge in volumes, nor will they last long. Even if they get a huge grant under a special circumstance for them to translate many books into their language in a social science field, they... See more I'm still wondering what kinds of clients would buy translations in sociology, anthropology, linguistics, or maybe translatology. It would be possible that an institution has been awarded grants to get some English books in these areas translated into your target language, but these kinds of needs will neither be huge in volumes, nor will they last long. Even if they get a huge grant under a special circumstance for them to translate many books into their language in a social science field, they will have to finish the task within a period of time. After that, jobs will become scarce again in that field.
You may check the past job postings here in Proz to find out how many agencies have posted jobs in a social science field you are interested in, or you can check the Kudoz leaders to see what percentage of their points have been awarded for answering questions in a discipline of social sciences.
[Edited at 2023-07-14 06:39 GMT]
[Edited at 2023-07-14 08:16 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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jyuan_us wrote: Maria Julia Comparin wrote:
I am a beginner translator and I would like to know if the areas of social sciences, sociology, ethics, anthropology, etc. have a wide job market to work in or if it is difficult to get jobs in these areas. By the way, I am an EN-PT translator. I wonder what kinds of documents are to be translated in these areas. Books? College textbooks? Academic papers? The authors would probably prefer to having a peer academician in the target language country translate their works. Also, translating books may involve a publishing house, and as I'm aware of, book translators have low incomes, unless the books they have translated become bestsellers in the target market, the chance of which is extremely low. [Edited at 2023-07-13 14:21 GMT]
They might, but academics tend to be busy writing their own papers - and a lot of them are not great writers themselves.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 20:42
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Language pair | Jul 13, 2023 |
In my language pair, these are terribly paid. Re. academics, some approached me (received my contact details through some of my friends) while working on their PhD, expecting me to help them with translations for free (yes, they were in the Humanities). So they are not a lot I want to hang out with. I also had a special chat with my friends who gave them my phone number.
Hopefully, the situation is better in other language pairs.
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| PhD students are a different matter | Jul 14, 2023 |
Lingua 5B wrote:
In my language pair, these are terribly paid. Re. academics, some approached me (received my contact details through some of my friends) while working on their PhD, expecting me to help them with translations for free (yes, they were in the Humanities). So they are not a lot I want to hang out with. I also had a special chat with my friends who gave them my phone number.
Hopefully, the situation is better in other language pairs.
Professors or PIs will have a budget to work with and typically very reasonable expectations on pricing and budget.
Whenever I have a PhD student write to me, though, I sigh and usually respond by telling them to think about how long it will take someone to just simply *read* their 400 page manuscript, then multiple that by what they consider a reasonable hourly rate. And then I remind them that I will be doing much more than just reading, so the low range for editing their work would be about double that amount. That price is usually so far out of their budget that I don't hear from them anymore. I do sympathize with them because they're typically paying out of pocket and have miserable salaries (if they have a salary at all), but I cannot edit a 400-page manuscript for $400 and still feed my family. If they've been referred by friends, I'll typically suggest they tell me their budget and then I can edit their manuscript until that budget has been used up, commenting on the changes I'm making as I go. Then they have an idea of their common errors and can at least edit those out of the rest of their work.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 20:42
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Right, they have a budget. | Jul 14, 2023 |
Rita Translator wrote: Lingua 5B wrote:
In my language pair, these are terribly paid. Re. academics, some approached me (received my contact details through some of my friends) while working on their PhD, expecting me to help them with translations for free (yes, they were in the Humanities). So they are not a lot I want to hang out with. I also had a special chat with my friends who gave them my phone number.
Hopefully, the situation is better in other language pairs. Professors or PIs will have a budget to work with and typically very reasonable expectations on pricing and budget.
I am aware they have a budget. Why do they then expect me to work for free for them?
| | | | | Not PhD students | Jul 15, 2023 |
Lingua 5B wrote: Rita Translator wrote: Lingua 5B wrote:
In my language pair, these are terribly paid. Re. academics, some approached me (received my contact details through some of my friends) while working on their PhD, expecting me to help them with translations for free (yes, they were in the Humanities). So they are not a lot I want to hang out with. I also had a special chat with my friends who gave them my phone number.
Hopefully, the situation is better in other language pairs. Professors or PIs will have a budget to work with and typically very reasonable expectations on pricing and budget. I am aware they have a budget. Why do they then expect me to work for free for them?
You said you were approached by PhD students. They do not have a budget. Professors do.
ETA: The point I was trying to make is you cannot judge the potential of making a living doing academic translation/editing by looking at the expectations of PhD students. I don't think it's possible to make a living that way. But if you're working with professors or other career researchers, then it is possible.
[Edited at 2023-07-15 08:38 GMT]
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